Impact Investors

Brief Summary

Impact Investors and Sponsors are people who have a desire to support initiatives – where outcomes are continually re-invested – creating real change in society to help secure better circumstances and opportunities for people and groups they have an interest in or care about. They are also interested in the learning opportunities, made available through the support, growth and success of their investments and exploring alternative outcomes and models. Like Impact Entrepreneurs they are typically people who are looking for an outcome greater than a financial benefit and the creation of solutions that can be applied and then recycled, upcycled and evolved for infinite application. They are looking to contribute to a community in a way that isn’t necessarily only measurable in quantitative terms, but also in qualitative terms.

Full Summary

Impact Investors are typically individuals who are committed to creating positive change via ‘impact investing’. They have disposable income and a desire to give back to society to help to secure prosperity and environmental well-being for people and organizations they care about for generations to come. Impact Investors seek investment opportunities that deliver triple bottom line results – the application of a resource (their wealth) to create intrinsic value, or a new definition of wealth, that relates to risk mitigation and long term quality of life of the community. They may or may not work through an organization or foundation to keep things at arms (and media) length from their personal/family affairs.

Sponsors are typically organizations with funds that have been designated to sponsor initiatives that create change and/or innovation. They are interested in the learning opportunities made available through supporting the growth and success of projects or innovative models in development/startup mode, like the CM model. Sponsors are open to evolving business opportunities and want to remain in dialogue with the project leaders and in some cases to contribute towards directing how the process/knowledge evolves.

Note: One organization or one person can be both – which is the reason we grouped these profiles.

Both Impact Investors and sponsors of these funding groups are looking for an outcome greater than a financial benefit. They are seeking to contribute to a community, project or model, that is measurable in quantitative terms, but in qualitative terms – e.g. quality of life. They are looking to leave more behind that what they contributed. In this interconnected age, investments should consider – not just the ‘thing’ itself – but rather in the ecology of relations in the network, to which their investment connects, and how the impact opportunities can become infinite.

These are people who say, “It started with a footpath, we built a road, and the results of that for the people and the planet are…” These people ARE NOT monument builders. They are interested in building something that has absolute utility.

Impact Investors and Sponsors are not typically solely left brained and are not tied to the process, but the qualitative and quantitative outcomes produced as a result of their investment. They are open to the manifestation of the process, the community driving the solution and/or a revised process that serves the masses. They see the distinction between creativity and innovation. Creativity = improving the current; Innovation = creating a completely new environment.

Risk mitigation plays a role in both Impact Investors’ and Sponsors’ decision to invest in an economic related organization (or project) such as ours. Two key things they evaluate when it comes to investing are:

Reducing the risk that affects the current economic model, on a community’s circumstance and future well being.

Increasing the risk* of the success of a more profound economic model that supports the community into the future, by increasing their quality of life.*Risk: anything that can happen. There are aspects of risk that you want to reduce, and aspects of risks that you want to increase.